


the greatest thing you’ll ever learn

by mieraspeller



Series: the world turned upside down [5]
Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Found Family, Gen, Kid Fic, Magic, Post-Apocalypse, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 01:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19897870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mieraspeller/pseuds/mieraspeller
Summary: Magic and misunderstandings, the cornerstone of their makeshift pack.





	the greatest thing you’ll ever learn

January 16  
Homestead Ranch, Wyoming

Maria woke to quiet. For a moment she lay still, unsure what had woken her. Then she scrambled out of the tent and to the window, grinning as she saw the short snowstorm from the evening before had finally cleared. There were still deep drifts of snow heaped up the side of the house and over the car, and she ran into Jamie's room, ignoring her sleepy grumbles, to look out the north facing window in her room. The tracks the truck had left the night before were wiped out and the road had disappeared under the snow. Which meant Cora, Lorraine, and Jamie’s dad, George, might not get back that day. She sighed. 

"Out!" Jamie said again, flailing an arm out at her from under her mound of blankets. Maria rolled her eyes and stomped back into the tent bedroom, grabbing the binoculars from the bedside table and looking out the window again. She could see down the curve of the road from the east to the west if she pressed her face close to the glass. Then she saw something moving to the west. She leaned back and put the binoculars to her eyes, trying to find it again, and... there!

The two figures were nearly indistinguishable from the snow in their bulky white jackets and snow covered pants and boots, but the long shadows they cast on the fresh snow were obvious. Maria dropped the binoculars and scrambled around the sleeping tent to the opening. 

"Stiles!" she hissed. "Stiles, there's someone coming!" 

Stiles snorted and sat up, knocking into the side of the tent and causing Nik to kick out in his sleep. "What?" he asked, blinking and then coughing a little from the abrupt awakening. 

"There's someone coming," she said again, tugging at his sweater until he crawled out of the tent, careful of Harry and Nik. He took the binoculars and followed her direction until he saw the two figures. 

"Sh--oot." He takes in a deep breath and shakes his head. "Okay. You go wake up Lydia and Khrys, I'll get Jamie. Tell her we'll take the high ground."

Maria nodded quickly and ran out of the room, hearing Stiles waking the boys up as she left, pounding down the stairs and sliding across the hall in her socked feet to the living room. She overshot her mark and ended up running into the sofa bed. 

"Ow!" 

"Wha?" Lydia mumbled, turning her head slowly. "Okay?" she asked, groaning and getting up onto one elbow. "Maria?" 

She scrambled up from the ground. "Get up, there's someone coming!" 

"Cora?" 

Maria shook her head, and then had to take a quick step back as Lydia went from half asleep to wide awake. 

"Stiles?" 

"He's getting Jamie," she said. "He said he'll take the high ground," she repeated carefully. 

"Right. Khrys!" she said loudly, giving the teen's sleeping form a push. "Get up, get the shotgun.” Lower, she said, “At least she can’t miss with that." She slid out of bed, yanking the covers with her. "Now!" 

Lydia started yanking on clothes hurriedly, wrapping a scarf around her neck haphazardly and jamming a hat over her bright hair. "Maria, help me with the bar," she said, running for the kitchen door. Behind them, Khrys was stumbling around the room, half asleep still. Maria slid down the hall after Lydia and into the kitchen, where she was already struggling to lift the heavy metal bar. Maria stepped next to her, pushing with all her might to help her get the bar in place across the door. 

"Do you want to try what we practiced, or stay with Nik and Harry?" Lydia asked, already pulling the shotgun out of its hiding place in the hall bench. 

Maria was frightened, but, she decided, not scared enough to hide. She wanted to help protect them, too. 

"I want to help," she decided. 

"Okay, but make sure you stay out of sight. Khrys!" 

"I've got the back!" she yelled, and Maria hurried after Lydia as she swept out of the kitchen and into the hall, then detoured upstairs, while Lydia continued to the front door. 

"We're ready!" Stiles yelled. Maria ran into Jamie's room, where she was already stationed at open window, rifle at the ready. She looked up in surprise when Maria came in. 

"I'm gonna help," she told him, and rolled her eyes when Jamie just said, 

"Stay out of sight, kiddo." 

"You're not that much older than me," she grumbled, sliding to the other side of the window. When she peeked over the sill, she could see the figures already much closer, and she looked down to see the edge of the fur lining the hood of Lydia's coat and the end of her shotgun as she stood half on the edge of the porch. 

They went quiet then, waiting as the two of them approached.

"They must be alone," Jamie said quietly. "Khrys doesn't see anyone around back." 

"Maybe they're friendly," Maria said hopefully. Jamie didn’t reply, and Maria shivered. She didn't really like using her magic against people, but sometimes they had to. 

"What do you want?" she heard Lydia demand stridently from below, and she held her breath, straining her ears to hear a reply. She blinked in surprise when one of the two figures tore back their hood and snow mask. 

They yelled something and Maria made out a woman's face surrounded by brown hair before she started racing toward the porch. Maria let out a little shriek and shouted, "Ventus!" 

The woman choked, then stumbled, and Maria squeezed her eyes closed, hands clenching as she grasped on to the spell with all her might.

"Maria!" 

Someone shook her, and she looked up to see Stiles standing over, flushed and frantic. "Let go of the spell," he told her, and it took a second for her to understand. "Maria, she's a friend." 

Maria let out a gasp and shook out her hands, waving the spell away and feeling the strands of control break. She rolled to her knees and leaned out the window. Below her Lydia was leaning over the woman.

"Allison?" Lydia said, sounding funny. Kind of breathless and scared at once. She knelt in the snow next to the woman, and then they were hugging.

"I'm sorry," Maria said in a small voice. 

"It's not your fault, you didn't know," Stiles told her, but he was already drifting to the door. "Uh, will you tell Nik it's safe?" and before Maria could say anything he was running downstairs. She looked up at Jamie, who shrugged and stood, helping Maria to her feet. She took one last glance outside, and her eyes widened when she saw Stiles burst outside a moment later, still in his socks, and the other person took off their face mask, too. Stiles let out a whoop and jumped off the porch at the man, both of them thumping back into the snow. He made a strange noise and it took Maria a second to realize that he was laughing. 

"Maria, come on," Jamie said, tugging her arm. She left the window reluctantly, feeling a hot flush of jealousy. Lydia and Stiles didn't laugh at anyone but her or Harry or Cora, and even then not very often. And Cora wasn't even here! 

Jamie stopped at the bathroom to retrieve Nik and Harry, but Maria walked into the bedroom in a fog. She had just realized these people must be their real family, the ones they'd been trying to get home to. They would go home, and leave her here with Lorraine and Jamie. They were nice, but they didn't know magic, and they didn't help her with math, or teach her about all the different kinds of creatures that roamed the world now. She opened the closet door and rummaged through the shelf inside until she found the book that Cora had found all about gryphons and centaurs and all kinds of magical creatures. She could hear voices downstairs, and then feet going down the steps, and she hurriedly took the book and stuffed it into her bag and put it under the bed. If they were going to leave her here, she was keeping the book! Maybe Lorraine wouldn't mind reading it to her. Or at least help her with some of the hard words until she knew them all and could read the whole thing by herself. 

On further thought, she crawled under the bed after the book, carefully tugging the blanket down over the edge to hide her from sight. If Cora was here, she'd be able to find her, but she wasn't. 

"Lumos," she whispered, blinking as her ring lit up, reflecting strangely against the wall and bedframe. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and opened the book to the bookmark. 

"Ner-ee-ids," she said carefully, then winced when a door slammed downstairs. They were probably packing up their stuff and getting ready to leave. They weren't even going to wait until Cora and Lorraine got home?

She glowered at the illustration on the page, a dreamy watercolor of a woman laying across a bull with a mermaid tail, then turned back to the words. If she was going to be on her own, she'd better learn as much as she could now.

_In Greek mythology, Nereids are depicted as friendly sea nymphs, and the daughters of Nereus and Doris. While the true origin of Nereids are much debated, their personalities are as varied as any other being. Some are associated in stories as helpful to such characters as Jason or-_

"Maria?" 

Maria blew out a quick breath, putting out her light and staying still, waiting for Lydia to leave. She didn't need a goodbye - she would rather they just go without saying anything. 

"Hey, has anyone seen Maria?" Lydia called. She sounded worried, but Maria bit her lip. She knew that there wasn't enough gas to take the truck and the Jeep all the way back to Beacon Hills, and they wouldn't all fit in the Jeep. Lydia probably just wanted her to apologize to the lady she had stolen her breath from. But if the lady was taking Maria's seat in the Jeep, she would just wait here until they left. She knew how to start the fire in the kitchen stove, and she could use the water pump and boil eggs and make herself sandwiches. That was enough. She could take care of herself. 

"Maybe she went to check on the chickens?" Stiles called. An unfamiliar voice, too quiet for her to make out, said something. Maria stayed quiet as feet walked around upstairs, then squeaked when the blanket was pulled up and Lydia peered under the bed at her. 

"Maria? What's wrong?"

Maria looked down at the book, visible again with the blanket no longer blocking the light. "Nothing.” 

Lydia didn't move, and Maria didn't either. Then Lydia disappeared and said something quietly, before she was back and sliding underneath the bed next to Maria. Maria looked up in surprise - Lydia hated getting dirty, because she hated washing clothes, and it was really dusty under the bed. 

"You're going to have to wash your clothes," Maria told her.

"It's Stiles' turn. I need to get them really dirty to get him back for the mud incident," she said darkly, and Maria couldn't help but let out a giggle that she quickly stifled. "He thinks you think we're mad at you for your spell." 

Maria studiously looked over the book, even though Lydia was blocking the light again. She could feel her eyes getting wet and she squeezed them shut and shrugged. 

"We're not, I promise. You did exactly what you were supposed to."

"I wasn't going to say sorry, anyway," Maria muttered.

"Oh. Well, we thought we'd make lunch and try and reach Cora. Do you want to come downstairs?" 

Maria shook her head. The sooner Cora came back, the sooner they'd all leave. 

"Are you sure? Allison was hoping you could tell her some of the stuff you've learned about the chickens." 

"Who's Allison?" Maria asked, glaring at the ground when she felt herself stutter. She wiped her arm across her face angrily. 

"My best friend. She left home to find us with our Alpha, Derek. He's not much of a chicken fan, but he really likes magic." 

"We could put on a magic show after lunch," she heard Stiles say from above them. "Show off our snowbending skills." 

"No, thank you." 

Lydia sighed. "Okay. Come downstairs if you're hungry, okay?" She reached over to brush back Maria's hair, and Maria let her, then rolled on her side facing the wall. 

"Nox," she whispered. In the darkness, she curled into herself. Up above her she could hear Stiles and Lydia whispering at each other. Normally that would annoy her, but if they were leaving, it didn't matter what they said that she couldn't hear. Even though the floor was hard and her eyes and nose were itchy from the dust under the bed, she yawned widely. A few minutes later, she was asleep. 

When she woke, sneezing, Maria had realized something. She rolled over and frowned when she saw she was in the tent, wrapped in her favorite blanket with the snowflakes on it. Harry was sleeping next to her and she sucked in a deep breath, scrambling out of the tent and running the window. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the Jeep and the truck were both still there. When she turned back, she realized that Cora was sitting on the bed, working on the green scarf she was crocheting for Lydia. 

"Hey. Feel better?" 

Maria sidestepped around the bed and would have dived back under it, but Cora was too fast for her. She was up on the bed and tucked under Cora's arm before she could protest. 

She knew from experience that Cora wouldn't let her go until she answered, and she'd know if she lied, so she said, "No." 

"Hm. What's wrong?" 

Maria leaned heavily against Cora's side and crossed her arms. 

"Did my brother scare you off with his eyebrows?" 

"No!" At this, Maria pulled away, and to her surprise, Cora let her go. Ducking under the bed, she pulled the book out, opening it to the bookmark to the look at her favorite illustration one last time. Then she dropped it on the bed next to Cora. 

"I was going to keep it, but Harry likes you to read it, too. I know you can't bring all of us with you," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a step back. "But please don't leave Harry. He's too little to take care of himself, and he'll cry all the time if Stiles isn't here." 

Not waiting for a response, Maria crawled back into the tent, curling up opposite the baby. She had done what she could. And she thought she had better pack her things after Cora and the others left, just in case Lorraine decided she didn't want her to stay, either. Jamie alone, she had been told, was enough of a handful for three Lorraines. 

"Maria." 

A quick glance back showed Cora kneeling just outside the opening of the tent, and Maria pulled her blanket up over her face.

"You can go now," she told her, muffled under the blanket. There was a shuffling noise and then quiet. 

"We aren't leaving you behind, Maria." Cora's voice was right next to her, and Maria shook her head. 

"You have to. There's not enough room for all of us." 

"I would tie Stiles the roof before I left you behind," Cora said. Maria pulled the blanket down and sighed heavily. Cora was lying on her back, looking up at the roof of the tent. "Seriously. You're part of the family now. We're not going anywhere without you. And Harry." 

Maria didn't have werewolf ears, but she thought Cora was telling the truth. She rolled over and looked at her. 

"I promise." Cora was looking back at her with her serious face. “Come here,” she said, and held her arms open. 

Maria eeled up onto her knees and held onto Cora tightly. "I don't want to be alone," she whispered, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. She wiped at them with the back of her hand, burying her face harder into Cora's shoulder. 

"That won't happen," Cora told her firmly. 

“Even if they hate me?” 

“They don’t hate you, and even if they did, you’re part of this pack, whether they like it or not.” 

That didn’t sound right, from the books she had read, and Maria told her so. “The alpha has to ask you to join a pack.” 

“You’re in _our_ pack.” She sat up and crossed her legs, and Maria mirrored her. “Give me your hand.” 

Maria held out a hand, and when Cora flashed her eyes at her, she jumped. It felt a little like when she and Stiles worked magic together, but it was warm and hummed quietly, instead of the big sparkly shock of Stiles’ magic. She reached out tugged at it like she did to her magic. Something tugged back, and Maria’s eyes widened. 

“Whoa. That feels weird.” She jumped when she felt another little tug, that felt different, like winter, and then one that felt bubbly and one that felt bright and sparkly at once. She gasped, rubbing her chest. “That’s our pack?” 

Cora nodded and pulled her into a hug. “Yes. And there is nothing that will change that for us.” 

Maria considered this, then nodded, clinging to Cora for another moment before sitting back. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready to meet them now.”


End file.
